CILACAP, Indonesia: Two people died and one went missing after a boat carrying 25 Sri Lankan asylum-seekers drifted for weeks off Indonesia’s Java island due to engine failure, police said yesterday.
Fishermen found the wooden boat with 22 survivors off Cilacap in Central Java province late on Monday and notified police, district police spokesman Siti Khayati told reporters.
“Two of them died and one went missing after jumping into the sea,” she said, adding that two others were dehydrated.
District immigration chief Syamsul Bahri said the migrants carried no documents and would be referred to the International Organisation for Migration.
Migrants told reporters they fled their country on November 22 and wanted to seek asylum in Australia. AFP
